Saturday, April 28, 2012

How Low Can I Go?

I have never counted carbs before, choosing instead to subscribe to more all inclusive, but reduced calorie diets. So I am surprised to learn what Ye Atkins Folk already knew: 40 grams of carbs in a day is, like, nothing. I later noted through some astute research that the FDA 2000 calorie diet on most nutrition labels is providing carb percentages based on 300 grams.

Day #1 of Low Carb Intake was supposed to be Sunday. It was short lived because I forgot and decided to get a Lite Mocha Latte on the way out of the grocery store, which I enjoyed with a chocolate chip cookie.

Ooops.

My re-attempt was Wednesday. It turned out to be successful, but I almost missed the mark with four cherry tomatoes. These little gems, tossed innocently over my lunch salad, accounted for almost half my allowance. When I got home, I checked over my meals to see if maybe, just maybe, I could have a beer? The answer was a no, just by a few carbs.

Breakfast and lunch are relatively easy. Eggs for breakfast, no toast, but cheese is a-ok. I had a lovely little recipe from the internet for lunch - tuna walnut salad over greens (with tomatoes...). This was made with mayo and a little bit of cinnamon, plus some celery. I brought just the ingredients, and mixed them all up at work.

Dinner takes some planning, and this is exactly what I hoped to avoid. The main dish is easy - meat. But side dishes are tough. I knew potatoes and rice were out, and I was sadly out of salad and cottage cheese thanks to earlier meals. I pulled a bag of mixed veggies from the freezer - peas, corn, carrots, and green beans. I wasn't able to squeeze a full serving in, but I figured they would have to do.

Now for the hard part. Thursday I had a meeting that would include free pizza, so I was going to have to do Friday for Day #2. And dang it, I did everything I could to make sure that beer at the end of the day would be in my grasp!

Again, breakfast was no problem. I had eggs with feta cheese, no toast. Lunch, I was out of tuna and walnuts and celery, but had chicken and almonds, so I mixed up the mayo with cinnamon again, and plopped it into my bag. I went to a meeting first thing, about an hour from the office, and returned just in time for lunch. I wasn't really feeling the chicken salad, so I decided to get a salad at Wegmans and sit at a picnic table on a beautiful day. I reached for my purse with the exact salad in mind - they call it a protein salad and it has tofu, almonds, and I think edamame on it. I wouldn't know because I never got that salad. Instead, I realized that my purse was still at the architect's office - just over an hour away.

In a direction exactly opposite of any direction I would normally head.

On a Friday.

Grrrrrrr.

I had to eat the chicken salad, and forgo the picnic table idea, since I would need to leave the office early. I would have to work through lunch.

Grrrr....

As I drove north I passed the exit for a friend's house. If only it weren't during work hours, I could at least stop in and make this trip semi worthwhile....

I picked up the purse, sheepishly. It is hard to look professional when you are me, I must say. Ah well. I got to the car and remembered my friend's office is closed on Friday afternoons. They do 4 nine hour days, plus only 4 hours on Fridays. So it wasn't a total waste. I went to her place, had a few beers, blew the carb thing.